IMPACT! Wrestling Review - September 16, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Decay (Crazzy Steve and Black Taurus) def. Violent By Design (Deaner and Rhino)

The main purpose of this match was to continue telling the story of dissension within Violent By Design, specifically with Rhino (even though he wasn't the one pinned in this outing). It succeeded in that respect, even though the match was fairly basic stuff. Decay aren't being built up for a title shot I don't think, so I don't expect this win to lead to anything for them. Violent By Design officially booted Rhino from the group afterward, which leads me to believe that Heath will be back soon to reunite with him.

TJP def. Petey Williams

Williams blamed his recent loss to Steve Maclin on TJP due to him causing a distraction at ringside with No Way's conga line. Say what you will about TJP, but the guy can go and so can Williams even at this stage of his career. Thus, this was an enjoyable encounter. The X-Division has been killing it all year and this is a solid undercard story to tell outside of the title picture. I don't know why Maclin is still involved, but the three of them will meet in a three-way at Victory Road.

John Skyler def. Laredo Kid

I had no idea Laredo Kid beat Skyler on last week's Before The Impact, probably because I don't watch it. That seems like a weird way to follow up Skyler's upset win over Matt Cardona (which I hope he'll continue to play up in his promos), but at least he got his win back here. Laredo Kid teamed with WWE's Angel Garza in IMPACT years ago and has had a handful of matches in AEW. He's fun to watch and I thought this was a nice little match between them. I wouldn't be opposed to a rubber matchup one of these weeks.

Trey Miguel def. Matthew Rehwoldt

They weren't given a ton of time, but I'm not going to lie: This might have been one of the best Rehwoldt/Aiden English matches I've ever seen. Of course, having an opponent as talented as Miguel helped, but they worked really well together and had great chemistry. I don't know if Miguel winning means their mini feud is already over, but I certainly wouldn't be opposed to a rematch.

Impact World Champion Christian Cage, Impact X-Division Josh Alexander, Chris Sabin, Eddie Edwards and Sami Callihan def. Ace Austin, Madman Fulton, Moose, W. Morrissey and Brian Myers

Damn, this was a stacked main event. If they gave this more time and added an elimination stipulation (a la Survivor Series), I wouldn't have complained. It had Victory Road implications given who was involved and everyone had their time to shine. There were also a lot of interactions I didn't think we'd see, so that was cool. They kept the pace moving nicely throughout and the babyfaces got the final momentum boost ahead of Saturday night.

Overall Show

Interestingly, a bunch of tag team matches are advertised, but I'm really looking forward to Victory Road on Saturday night, specifically the top of the card. I thought this go-home edition of IMPACT! Wrestling did a strong job of setting the stage for it and there was plenty of entertaining action to boot. The star-studded main event is worth checking out and the rest of the two hours flew by. People really need to stop sleeping on IMPACT because their logical, easy-to-follow booking is some of the best you'll see anywhere in wrestling all week.

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